Just about every movie that gets released on video (VHS or DVD) ends up being pre-sold on websites like Amazon.com and the like. But, they're only pre-sold something like 2 weeks before they're to be released on the market to buy at your local store.

I don't know how many times I've walked out
of a theatre, and think to myself, "That movie was good, I wouldn't mind owning it." But, months later, when it finally comes up for sale, my enthusiasm has gone flat, and I decide I'd rather wait for it to end up on cable, or just not bother altogether.

Why won't the studios take advantage of those "impulse buyers" like me right there at the theater! It wouldn't take much to set up a kiosk in the lobby of a movie theater, and let you prepurchase, with a credit card of course, the movie you just watched, BEFORE you change your mind! Give the people a $5 discount to tempt them to do it, and they're bound to sell more than they do now.

The technology already exists, as any patron of AMC theaters knows. They currently have kiosks right outside of their box offices allowing you to buy your movie tix using your CC instantly.

They'll obviously get some people who will cancel their order and ask to have their CC charge reimbursed. But, as we all know, the number of those people will be slim to none. The amount of people who don't bother with cancelling will highly outnumber the amount of people who do, thus making this remain profitable.

The one difficulty I can see with doing this is that it presupposes the studios already know what forms the video release will take, when they'll occur, and how much they'll cost. I don't think all those factors are known that far in advance.

If I remember right (and I probably don't), it was 10 years before "E.T." was released. But most seem to be available in about 6 months nowadays.

//it presupposes the studios already know what forms the video release will take, when they'll occur, and how much they'll cost//
Now this is an easy one. The studio gets the DVD contract all set up with the theatrical release. The moviegoers pre-order "The Super-Special Limited Pre-Order Edition", which comes in a gold hologrammed box with a Vin Diesel figurine (for films starring Vin Diesel). Six months later, the gold box becomes a reality, using whatever edits & extras they decided to include. It costs a small fortune.Or just have a standard DVD, but it gets released FIRST to the pre-order crowd. So they aren't paying full price when everyone else is getting it from the bargain bin.

This is a fantastic idea and should be flagged as an example of a newbie with such and the croissants to go along with it.

In reference to the idea, there's no need to reimburse the credit card, the studio simply accepts the order and doesn't charge the card until the unit ships. That's what we do with our (6 months) pre-ordered software.

All I can say, is, WOW! I've actually had this idea running in for quite some time now. When I stumbled onto this site, and thought this was be a great way to find out if it truly held water, or if my wife was just being polite to me. I figured that there had to be SOME good reason why it hadn't been done already. That's the main reason I haven't actually gone forward with possibly starting a webpage that would let people do this, in conjunction with the major studios, of course. But with all this positive feedback, I may actually go ahead pursue it further!

And, thank you all for my warm welcome. I hope most (I truly doubt ALL) my further contributions are as well-received.

I missed this one before. 'Tis goodly. I'm not a movie buyer myself but I can see how this would be a popular service. I bet the theatre owners would want a cut, though... which in fact might be an incentive for them to get on board.